Effects of Medications on Regulation of Body Temperature of Patients with Tourette Syndrome

Abstract

Tourette syndrome is defined and characterized mainly by the presence of motor and phonic tics. Frequently, other medical, psychologic, and psychiatric symptoms coincide with Tourette syndrome. Despite extensive efforts extended over many years of research, the etiology leading to Tourette syndrome remains obscure. A number of hypotheses have been offered in the past to resolve the pathophysiology of Tourette syndrome. Based on the existence of an abnormal body temperature profile in patients with Tourette syndrome, an idiopathic hypothalamic disorder has been proposed to be involved in this ailment. When monitoring the effects of medications employed in the consensus for Tourette syndrome treatments, it became evident that medications ameliorate neurologic tics and rectify the patient's periodic hypothermal body temperature. Correlating the neurologic status to hypothalamic dys-regulation, the data presented in this study strengthen the hypothesis of an idiopathic hypothalamic disorder underlying the Tourette syndrome cascade.